Vi ste ovdje

Living and working in Slovenia

Eurofound provides research, data and analysis on a wide range of social and work-related topics. This information is largely comparative, but also offers country-specific information for each of the 28 EU Member States. Most information is available in English but some has been translated to facilitate access at national level.

Eurofound strives to strengthen the ongoing link between its own work and national policy debates and priorities related to quality of life and work. Increasingly important in this context is the Europe 2020 growth and jobs strategy launched in 2010, which has five headline targets, covering employment through to social inclusion and poverty reduction. The strategy is implemented in the context of the European Semester process – the EU's annual cycle of economic policy guidance and surveillance – which ensures that Member States keep their budgetary and economic policies in line with their EU commitments through, in part, National Reform Programmes. These programmes form the basis for the European Commission's proposals for country-specific recommendations (CSRs) for each Member State.

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Living in Slovenia

Quality of life

Quality of life

Findings from Eurofound’s European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS) show that all the selected indicators about quality of life in Slovenia are very close to their respective EU28 averages. Furthermore, the majority of them have remained stable in recent years. For instance, life satisfaction in Slovenia was 6.9 in 2016, similar to the 2011 value of 7.0 and close to the EU28 average of 7.1 in 2016.

However, the share of respondents reporting difficulties in making ends meet has changed to some extent in recent years. In 2007, 38% of respondents in Slovenia had difficulties making ends meet, increasing to 50% in 2011, and decreasing again to 42% in 2016 and being only slightly above the corresponding EU28 average of 39%.

2003

2007

2011

2016

Life satisfaction

Mean (1-10)

7.0

7.2

7.0

6.9

Taking all things together on a scale of 1 to 10, how happy would you say you are?

Mean (1-10)

7.4

7.7

7.1

7.2

Optimism about own future

Agree & strongly agree

-

-

-

66%

Optimism about children’s or grandchildren’s future

Agree & strongly agree

-

-

-

56%

Take part in sports or physical exercise

At least once a week

-

-

38%

45%

In general, how is your health?

Very good

-

20%

22%

22%

WHO-5 mental wellbeing index

Mean (1-100)

-

60

58

62

Making ends meet

With some difficulty, difficulty, and great difficulty

41%

38%

50%

42%

I feel I am free to decide how to live my life

Strongly agree

-

-

29%

23%

I find it difficult to deal with important problems that come up in my life

Agree & strongly agree

-

-

-

27%

When things go wrong in my life, it generally takes me a long time to get back to normal

Agree & strongly agree

-

-

-

24%

Work-life balance

Work-life balance

Work–life balance related problems are relatively less common in Slovenia than on average in the EU. For instance, in 2016, 51% of respondents in Slovenia were too tired from work to do household jobs at least several times a month, compared with the higher EU28 average of 59%. In 2016, 40% of respondents in Slovenia experienced difficulties to fulfil family responsibilities because of work at least several times a month, which was very close to the EU average of 38%. The least common work–life balance problem was having difficulties to concentrate at work because of family responsibilities, reported by 10% of respondents in Slovenia in 2016, which was significantly below the EU28 average of 19%.

2003

2007

2011

2016

(At least several times a month)

I have come home from work too tired to do some of the household jobs which need to be done

Total

52%

54%

48%

51%

Men

47%

50%

48%

42%

Women

60%

60%

48%

61%

It has been difficult for me to fulfil my family responsibilities because of the amount of time I spend on the job

Total

40%

43%

35%

40%

Men

38%

41%

36%

34%

Women

42%

45%

35%

49%

I have found it difficult to concentrate at work because of my family responsibilities

Total

6%

11%

15%

10%

Men

5%

11%

18%

8%

Women

8%

12%

12%

12%

Quality of society

Quality of society

Perceived tensions between poor and rich people have fluctuated in Slovenia. In 2003, 43% of respondents reported a lot of tension between poor and rich people, decreasing to 35% in 2007, increasing again to 42% in 2011, before decreasing to 33% in 2016. Apart from these changes, the majority of the selected indicators on the quality of society in Slovenia have remained fairly stable in recent years.

2003

2007

2011

2016

Social exclusion index

Mean (1-5)

-

2.1

2.1

2.1

Trust in people

Mean (1-10)

5.5

5.2

5.2

4.8

Involvement in unpaid voluntary work

% 'at least once a month'

-

-

9%

12%

Tension between poor and rich people

% reporting 'a lot of tension'

43%

35%

42%

33%

Tension between different racial and ethnic groups

% reporting 'a lot of tension'

42%

30%

32%

31%

I feel safe when I walk alone after dark

Strongly agree

-

-

-

46%

Quality of public services

Quality of public services

Quality ratings for seven public services

Note: scale of 1-10, Source: EQLS 2016.

The perceived quality of many public services has increased in recent years in Slovenia. For example, the perceived quality of public transport increased from 5.8 in 2007 to 6.4 in 2016, getting closer to the EU28 average of 6.6 (on a scale of 1–10). Similarly, the average quality rating for long-term care services increased from 6.1 in 2011 to 6.6 in 2016, rising above the EU28 average of 6.2. The state pension system received the lowest quality rating in Slovenia, falling from 5.2 in 2003 to 3.8 in 2016.

2003

2007

2011

2016

Health services

Mean (1-10)

5.7

5.8

6.4

6.0

Education system

Mean (1-10)

6.4

6.8

6.8

6.6

Public transport

Mean (1-10)

5.8

5.8

6.2

6.4

Childcare services

Mean (1-10)

-

7.1

6.6

7.2

Long-term care services

Mean (1-10)

-

-

6.1

6.6

Social housing

Mean (1-10)

-

-

5.1

5.4

State pension system

Mean (1-10)

5.2

4.9

4.0

3.8

Working life in Slovenia

About

Autor: Aleksandra Kanjuo Mrčela

Institution: University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Social Sciences (FDV)

Published on: petak, kolovoza 3, 2018

This profile describes the key characteristics of working life in Slovenia. It aims to complement other EurWORK research by providing the relevant background information on the structures, institutions and relevant regulations regarding working life. This includes indicators, data and regulatory systems on the following aspects: actors and institutions, collective and individual employment relations, health and well-being, pay, working time, skills and training, and equality and non-discrimination at work. The profiles are updated annually.

Highlights – Working life in 2018

Highlights – Working life in 2018

Authors: Barbara Lužar, Ana Selan and Tanja Čelebič, University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Social SciencesUpdated on: 13 March 2019

2018 was a politically turbulent year, marked by the resignation of Prime Minister Miro Cerar in mid-March. The new government took office in September, headed by the country’s youngest prime minister to date, Marjan Šarec, and its first minority cabinet. This was Slovenia’s 13th government since independence. Among its first tasks were agreements on public sector wages and the minimum wage increase, both of which were successfully reached by the end of 2018.

Social partners ended the year with great expectations of the new government. The coalition agreement promised to invest almost €2 billion in the health, social, public and infrastructure sectors, the cost of which was expected to be covered by increased taxation of capital. However, the leading representatives of all five employer organisations in Slovenia believe that the proposed solutions could have a detrimental impact on the economy. They see the target of €60,000 average value added by 2025 as feasible but want to see more investments in development, a lower tax burden on wages, more responsible governance and the conclusion of a national social agreement for a longer period. Public and private sector trade unions, on the other hand, have already agreed on operational cooperation if social partners do not reach a mutual wage agreement in the private sector soon.

The most important topic in 2018 was wage negotiations in the public sector. After a year of negotiations and waves of strikes, the government and public sector trade unions finally reached an agreement at the end of 2018 on the abolition of most austerity measures in the area of wages and other costs laid down by the Fiscal Balance Act of 2012. With this agreement, the government averted the massive civil servant strikes that had already been announced for the beginning of 2019.

In the private sector, social dialogue was not so successful. Social partners failed to renegotiate new sectoral collective agreements due to expire at the end of 2018, which meant that more than 50,000 employees would remain without any coverage by collective agreements. In December 2018, the largest union confederations organised a general strike demanding higher wages for all employees. Employer organisations proposed the conclusion of a new social agreement, which would define a new wage model as well as addressing key future challenges, such as lifelong learning, an ageing workforce and digitisation.

The second most important topic discussed by the government and social partners was the increased labour shortage in the Slovenian labour market. Slovenia is especially lagging behind in the reintegration of older people into work activity. Changes in legislation were introduced in 2018 that would facilitate the employment of foreign workers but only for high-value-added companies and innovative start-ups.

In 2018, the lowest unemployment since 2009 was recorded. Wages in the private sector rose in the first eleven months by an average of 4.1% – compared to 2.7% a year earlier – and domestic consumption also increased.

Background

Background

Economic and labour market context

Between 2012 and 2017, the Slovenian GDP increased substantially by 12.1%, greater than the EU average growth of 7.4% for the same period. Unemployment rates for all categories decreased slightly, with the biggest decrease in youth unemployment rate, which fell 9.4 percentage points in the five years to 11.2% in 2017. Rates for all categories were below the EU average, total unemployment in Slovenia was 6.6% in 2017 and 7.6% for the EU average. There was some increase in women employment between 2012 and 2017 (+4.3%), reaching 71.2% in 2017. Youth employment increased 4.7% in the same period and stood at 39.1% in 2017.

Legal context

Labour relationships in Slovenia are regulated by the Employment Relationships Act ( Zakon o delovnih razmerjih , The Official Gazette of RS, no. 21/2013). There were no major changes to the Labour Act in 2017.

In June 2017, the government adopted changes to the Labour Market Regulation Act (ZUTD) and the Labour Inspection Act (ZID-1) after finally reaching a deal with the social partners. Amendments to the labour market legislation cover different measures intended to activate labour market policies for unemployed people, while amendments to the labour inspection legislation include new powers for labour inspectors to prevent work on the basis of civil law contracts and to protect workers if the employer does not pay workers on time.

In May 2014, the Prevention of Undeclared Work and Employment Act (Zakon o preprečevanju dela in zaposlovanja na črno, The Official Gazette of RS, no. 32/2014) came into force.

Collective bargaining is regulated by the Collective Agreements Act (Zakon o kolektivnih pogodbah, Official Gazette of RS, no. 43/2006). This act regulates the parties, content and procedure for the signing of a collective agreement, its form, validity and termination, the peaceful settlement of collective labour disputes and the register and publication of collective agreements. Trade union representation is regulated by the Law on Representativeness of Trade Unions (Zakon o reprezentativnosti sindikatov, The Official Gazette of RS, no. 13/1993).

Industrial relations context

Industrial relations in Slovenia took root in the 1870s, when trade unions became legal. At the turn of the century there were 17 industrial unions. Trade unions were centralised after World War Two, with mandatory membership. Employers’ organisations did not exist.

After the change to the socio-economic system and the first free elections, a democratic industrial relations system gradually emerged with free collective bargaining. A recent study (Stanojević and Kanjuo Mrčela, 2014) has found that the nature of industrial relations in Slovenia is undergoing a change. Although social partners describe collective bargaining in Slovenia as more cooperative than conflictual, they also reported that there are sectors where there is practically no social dialogue any more. This study confirms the findings of an earlier analysis (Eurofound, 2013), which showed a deterioration in social dialogue since the onset of the crisis (for example, increasing breaches of collective agreements by employers, increasing workers’ unrest and number of strikes, and a rise in unilateral and hasty government interventions in public sector working conditions). However, the social partners did sign the social agreement for 2015–2016 in February 2015, after many years of negotiations.

A 2016 study (Stanojević, Kanjuo Mrčela and Breznik, 2016) claimed that the formal structure of industrial relations in Slovenia did not undergo any major changes during the economic crisis. At the same time, the authors emphasise that within this formal structure there are clear signs of major changes in power relations as well as in the logic and quality of the industrial relations system.

Actors and institutions

Actors and institutions

Trade unions, employers’ organisations and public institutions play a key role in the governance of the employment relationship, working conditions and industrial relations structures. They are interlocking parts in a multilevel system of governance that includes the European, national, sectoral, regional (provincial or local) and company levels. This section looks into the main actors and institutions and their role Slovenia.

Public authorities involved in regulating working life

The Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities (Ministrstvo za delo, družino, socialne zadeve in enake možnosti ) mainly deals with social dialogue and working conditions, including health and safety at work. Its objectives are to provide the necessary legislative framework and information, advisory and dispute settlement services and the minimum levels of worker protection through legislation. The area of activity of the Health and Safety at Work Section covers the drafting of acts and other regulations concerning health and safety at work and the co-operation with other line Ministries in drafting individual regulations. The state also participates in national tripartite consultation or negotiation on economic and social questions and is a partner in sectoral tripartite bodies. The state has been heavily involved in public sector industrial relations as employer. This includes the civil service (state administration at central, regional and local levels), public social services (such as health and safety at work, education and childcare) and industrial or commercial enterprises (such as postal services and railways).

The Labour Inspectorate of the Republic of Slovenia supervises the implementation of laws, other regulations, collective contracts and general acts that govern employment relations, pay and other receipts from employment, the employment of workers at home and abroad, worker participation in management, strikes and the safety of workers at work, unless otherwise specified by regulations. A worker may request judicial protection before a competent labour court. The worker and the employer may also agree on dispute settlement through mediation. Representative trade union and employer associations propose mediation experts for mediation in individual cases and arbiters for settling the labour disputes. The data on experts and arbiters are deposited with the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs.

Representativeness

Representativeness of trade unions is regulated by the Law on Representativeness of Trade Unions (1993). Article 6 of this law stipulates the criteria for representativeness, according to which a representative trade union must be democratic, enable voluntary membership, has been active for the past six months, is independent of governmental bodies and employers, is mostly financed through membership fees and other own sources and has a certain number of members (at least 10% of employees in a particular branch, activity or occupation).

Representativeness of employers’ organisations is not regulated by a separate law. It is nevertheless indirectly regulated by the Law on Collective Bargaining (Zakon o kolektivnih pogodbah, Uradni list of the Republic of Slovenia, No. 43/2006), which stipulates in Article 12 that when a collective agreement has been concluded between one or more representative trade unions and one or more representative employers’ organisation, one of the parties may ask the labour minister to extend the collective agreement to all employers in the activity to which the agreement refers. The employers’ organisation in this case have to employ more than half of all the workers at companies covered by the extension.

More information on representativeness of the main social partner organisations can be found in Eurofound’s representativeness study of the cross-industry social partners or in Eurofound’s sectoral representativeness studies.

Trade unions

About trade union representation

Trade union representation is guaranteed by the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia, which stipulates in Article 76 that the organisation and work of trade unions as well as trade union membership are free. Consequently, there are no legislative restrictions regarding the right to join trade unions.

According to data from the OECD, trade union membership had been declining before the crisis (from 43.7% of the workforce in 2003 to 21.2%% in 2013) and it continued to decline during the crisis.

Trade union membership and trade union density

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

Source

Trade union density in terms of active employees

25%

23%

22%

21.2%

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

OECD.Stat/Visser (2014)

Trade union membership in 1,000s

200

180

170

160

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

OECD.Stat/Visser (2014)

Main trade union confederations and federations

The most important trade union confederations and federations in Slovenia are:

Association of Free Trade Unions of Slovenia (ZSSS) is the largest union organisation;

Membership in employers’ organisations suffered its biggest decrease when the obligatory membership in the Chamber of Commerce and Industry was abolished in 2006. Two years afterwards, it was at 55% (Glassner, 2013). There have been no trade union mergers, but in October 2017 the largest trade union, the Association of Free Trade Unions of Slovenia (ZSSS) and the Confederation of Trade Unions Pergam (Konfederacija sindikatov Slovenije Pergam) announced they are about to merge. The merger is to take place at the beginning of 2018. The main reason for this merger is the improvement of the situation of workers. The objective is to try to overcome trade union fragmentation by strengthening the power and negotiating position of central trade union organisations

Employers’ organisations

About employers’ representation

Membership in employers’ organisations suffered its biggest decrease when the obligatory membership in the Chamber of Commerce and Industry was abolished in 2006. Two years afterwards, it was at 55% (Glassner, 2013).

The Association of Employers of Slovenia (ZDS) was the first voluntary economic association in Slovenia representing and protecting the interests of employers. They claim that in the private sector, half of all employees are employed by more than 1,000 members, representing over half of the total capital in Slovenia.

Employers’ organisations – membership and density

2012

2013

2014

Source

Employers’ organisation density in terms of active employees

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

Visser (2014)

Employers’ organisation density in private sector establishments*

n.a.

44%

n.a.

European Company Survey 2013

* Percentage of employees working in an establishment that is a member of any employers’ organisation that is involved in collective bargaining.

Main employers’ organisations

The most important intersectoral employer organisations in Slovenia are:

Tripartite and bipartite bodies and concertation

The Economic and Social Council of Slovenia (ESSS) was established by a tripartite agreement on pay policy in the private sector in April 1994. Through this accord, the government, employers’ organisations and trade unions established a central body for tripartite cooperation in Slovenia. ESSS has substantially contributed to the successful implementation of basic economic and social reforms and the process of transition, as well as rapprochement with the European Union and integration into the international economy. Moreover, it has helped with the enforcement of social justice and social peace, which are seen as crucial for successful economic development. The ESSS’s field of activity mainly concerns industrial relations, conditions of work, labour legislation, social rights and employment policy; other, broader economic and social issues that concern the interests of workers and their families; and employers’ interests and government policy.

The primary function of the ESSS is consultative, which means it takes an active part in the preparation of legislation and other documents. It can also issue its own standpoint on different matters, such as working documents and draft documents (such as the state budget and budget memorandum).

Secondly, the ESSS has a quasi-bargaining function (though not collective bargaining in its proper sense), which means that ‘social agreements’, pay policy agreements and other tripartite accords are negotiated within its framework.

The amended Rules of Procedure of the ESSS were adopted in January 2017. Each partner is now represented by eight members, which is a welcome change as it reflects the larger number of trade unions.

Main tripartite and bipartite bodies

Name

Type

Level

Issues covered

Economic and Social Council of Slovenia (Ekonomsko Socialni Svet Slovenije, ESSS )

Workplace-level employee representation

At company level there is a dual channel of representation: company trade unions and works councils/workers’ trustees. Eurofound’s 2009 European Company Survey reports that trade union shop stewards play a prominent role within Slovenia’s dual channel system. The results also indicate that where dual forms of representation exist, trade unions tend to focus more on collective bargaining, while works councils are mostly involved in information and consultation. In Slovenia there is a demarcation of competences between works councils and trade unions. The legislation says that the right of workers to participate in management may not encroach upon the rights and duties of trade unions and employers’ organisations to protect the interests of their members.

The 2009 Eurofound report also says that Slovenia has a medium to high coverage of employee representation structures compared with Europe as a whole, with 42% of the establishments involved in the survey and 66% of workers being covered by some form of body, and a further 15% of establishments using representation when necessary. Trade unions have the highest incidence of single-channel representation (23% of establishments covering 25% of employees). In terms of employee coverage, dual-channel representation is most widespread (15% of establishments with 39% of employees). Works councils as single-channel representative bodies are very rare and occur predominantly in smaller establishments (4% of establishments, covering only 2% of employees).

The regulation of these bodies is codified both by law and in collective agreements.

Regulation, composition and competences of the bodies

Regulation

Composition

Competences of the body

Involved in company-level collective bargaining?

Thresholds/rules when they need to be/can be set up

Trade union (Sindikat)

Yes

Yes

No threshold

Works council (Svet delavcev)

Yes

A works council member can be any employee who has been employed by the company for at least 12 months

No

Can be set up in a company with more than 20 employees

Employee representation at establishment level

In the figure, we see a comparison between Slovenia and European Union for the people with 'Establishment size : All' when asked 'Official structure of employee representation present at establishment'. For the 'Yes' answer, Slovenia's score is higher than the European Union score. For the 'No' answer, Slovenia's score is lower than the European Union score. The National comparisons visualisation presents a comparative overview for the values of all answers between two selected countries.

Collective bargaining

Collective bargaining

The central concern of employment relations is the collective governance of work and employment. This section looks into collective bargaining in Slovenia.

Bargaining system

Collective bargaining in Slovenia is highly structured. In the private sector there is collective bargaining between unions and employers at industry and company level. However, national bargaining for the private sector as a whole ceased at the end of 2005 following a decision by the employers to withdraw from it. The agreement that had previously covered the entire private sector, known by its initials as the SKPzGD (General Collective Agreement for the Non-commercial Sector), was cancelled in 2005.

In the public sector, there is both an agreement covering the entire non-commercial sector and separate agreements for different parts of it.

Industry-level agreements must be registered with the Ministry of Labour. As of April 2013, 46 public and private sector agreements had been registered since the passage of new collective bargaining legislation in 2006, although not all had been updated recently. As well as agreements covering specific industries, such as the food industry, metalworking and textiles, there is also an agreement covering small businesses, which covers a wide range of sectors.

Company-level bargaining is very important and supplements sectoral bargaining in most of the sectors. In Slovenia, major (cross-sectoral) agreements between social partners or minimum increases prescribed by the government do not exist.

The law on the minimum wage introduced a formal national minimum wage in 1999. It determined that any increase was to be set by the tripartite Economic and Social Council of Slovenia. Since 2000, the minimum wage has been adjusted in line with the inflation forecasts rather than past inflation to prevent sizeable wage rises that might fuel price rises during inflationary periods. This system of indexation has also been used in most of the collective agreements (Poje, 2009).

Collective agreements are legally binding. In the private sector, wage bargaining is coordinated at sector level. Sector-level collective agreements contain minimum standards, which can be changed only for the better at the lower-level (company) collective agreements. In the public sector, there is a centralised system of determining wages and other rights. The main trend in collective bargaining is decentralisation (Eurofound, 2013).

Bargaining levels

For a long time the dominant level of bargaining and pay setting in Slovenia has been at the sectoral level, but the current trend in collective bargaining is decentralisation.

Working time is not an issue in collective bargaining in Slovenia. The collective agreements cover statutory weekly working time, which is 40 hours. It can be fewer than 40 hours but not fewer than 36, unless the job entails great risk of injury or ill-health. Full working time may not be spread over fewer than four days a week.

Levels of collective bargaining, 2015

National level (insectoral)

Sectoral level

Company level

Wages

Working time

Wages

Working time

Wages

Working time

Principal or dominant level

x

x

Important but not dominant level

x

x

x

Existing level

x

Articulation

In general, agreements at a lower level can only improve the arrangements reached at the higher level. However, the 2006 Collective Agreements Act (unofficial translation) introduced a provision under which a higher-level agreement can specifically provide for lower-level agreements to worsen conditions. It has to be stressed, however, that few agreements implement this provision in practice.

Timing of the bargaining rounds

Bargaining rounds take place throughout the year. There is no specific period of the year or a pattern over the year.

Coordination

In Slovenia there are no pace-setting collective agreements or so-called trend-setting sectors that establish a framework for other sectors. There is no intersectoral collective agreement in the private sector at the moment. There is no actual coordination, but there is some pattern bargaining (across different sectors). Vertical coordination also plays a part due to the fact that the negotiators from employers and trade unions also represent different companies and thereby the rights agreed for the lower levels impact on the higher levels of collective bargaining.

Some sectoral collective agreements that defined lower levels of rights for employees (compared to other sectoral collective agreements), such as the collective agreement for the textile, clothing, leather and leather- processing industry of Slovenia, are used by employers when negotiating other sectoral collective agreements to try to lower the standards for employees.

Extension mechanisms

With regard to extension mechanisms, Articles 12 and 13 of the Collective Agreements Act state the following:

1. If a collective agreement on one or more activities is concluded between one or more representative trade unions and one or more representative associations of employers, one of the parties may propose to the minister responsible for labour to extend the validity of the whole of the collective agreement or a part of it to all employers in an activity or activities for which the collective agreement has been concluded.

2. The minister recognises an extended validity of the whole or a part of the collective agreement if the collective agreement has been concluded between one or more representative trade unions. The same applies if one or more associations of employers, the members of which employ more than half of all employees at employers for whom an extension of the collective agreement has been proposed.

3. In his or her decision on extending the validity of the whole or a part of the collective agreement, the minister is bound by the proposal from the proponent from paragraph 1 of this article.

The minister responsible for labour recognises an extended validity of the complete or part of the collective agreement with a decision that is published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia.

Derogation mechanisms

Derogation from minimal standards is stipulated in some of the collective agreements. It is possible to derogate from those collective wage agreements after agreement between the representative company trade union (or national trade union) and the employer, mainly in order to save jobs. This provision came into force separately for each of the collective agreements, mostly from the year 2006 onwards (see the Eurofound portal on collective wage bargaining by country).

Cases and conditions for rescinding a collective agreement and a rescind period are determined by the parties to a collective agreement. If a collective agreement does not contain a rescind period, it may be rescinded with a rescind period of six months. Collective agreements concluded for a definite period of time cannot be rescinded prematurely (Collective Agreements Act, Article 16).

Expiry of collective agreements

Article 17 of the Collective Agreements Act stipulates that after a collective agreement expires, provisions of the procedural part that regulates the rights and duties of employees and employers when concluding employment contracts, during employment relationships and in respect of the termination of employment contracts, pay for work and other personal remunerations and reimbursements regarding work, and occupational safety and health, shall still be applied until a new contract is concluded, but for one year at the most, unless otherwise specified by the parties.

Peace clauses

There are no peace clauses in the collective agreements. Nevertheless, almost all collective agreements contain a so-called positive and negative performance duty clause, in which the parties bind themselves to pursue proper enforcement of the collective agreement and to respect its stipulations. This clause is almost a general norm and is contained in the obligation part of a collective agreement. In the case of a breach of a collective agreement, the trade union has at its disposal the mechanisms of exercising workers’ rights and is not limited by a commitment to hold industrial peace.

Other aspects of working life addressed in collective agreements

According to recent qualitative research (Stanojević and Kanjuo Mrčela, 2014), a number of recently changed collective agreements cover a narrower scope of topics than before. For example, topics such as education and training or work–life balance are reported not to be included any more. After the former Office for Equal Opportunities suggested that trade unions and employers should consider equal opportunities in the collective bargaining procedures, the ZSSS (the biggest trade union confederation in Slovenia) addressed a letter to all sectoral trade unions in May 2005 in which sectoral trade unions were invited to act in accordance with the initiative and to be especially sensitive with respect to potential reasons for/factors of the gender pay gap. The ZSSS concludes that as there are no stipulations of the wage-setting system that determine gender pay gap, the reasons must be found in more subtle factors, such as discrimination of workers with family responsibilities and valuation or naming of jobs. Equal opportunities and diversity provisions are still not included in all collective agreements. However, the collective agreement for banks and savings banks does include two articles on the prohibition of discrimination.

The social partners cooperated in the project ‘Modernisation of industrial relations through the promotion of renewal of collective agreements’ (2013–2014).

Industrial action and disputes

Industrial action and disputes

Legal aspects

There are no national data (official nor unofficial) on strikes in Slovenia. The main reasons for collective action have been wage cuts and wage arrears. Mechanisms to resolve collective disputes are included in the collective agreements. However, there are no data on their use.

The right to strike is regulated by the Strike Act (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia 23/91). This Act defines a strike as an organised stoppage of work by workers with the purpose of exercising economic and social rights and interests arising from work. Workers may freely decide on their participation in a strike. The Act specifies that a strike can be organised in a company or other organisation, in a part of an organisation, in a branch of the economy or as a general strike.

The right to strike for workers in organisations that perform activities of special public importance for military defence can only be exercised under the following conditions: provision of a minimum level of work which ensures security of people and property or is an irreplaceable condition for the life and work of citizens or for the functioning of other organisations; or for the performance of Slovenia’s international duties.

Workers participating in a strike maintain their basic rights from the employment relationship except the right to pay. They retain rights to pension and disability insurance in accordance with the regulations on these matters. Financial compensation during a strike may apply if this is foreseen under a collective agreement or general legal document (see also Eurofound, 2002 ).

Industrial action developments, 2012–2014

2012

2013

2014

Source

Working days lost per 1,000 employees

14.9

n.a.

n.a.

LFS 2012

Number of strikes

n.a.

16% of establishments in the private sector

n.a.

ECS 2013

Dispute resolution mechanisms

Collective dispute resolution mechanisms

1. Collective labour disputes are settled peacefully by negotiation, mediation and arbitration, and in accordance with the Law on Labour and Social Courts (Official Gazette of RS, no. 2/04 and 61/04) before the competent labour court.

2. Collective labour disputes are settled in accordance with this law if a procedure for dispute settlement has not been determined in the collective agreement.

The LCA distinguishes between an interest dispute through mediation or arbitration and procedures for a peaceful settlement of disputes on rights.

Article 87 (resolution of collective disputes) of the Collective Agreement for the Retail Sector (CARS) stipulates that the parties to the agreement agree that the collective disputes shall be resolved in a way and according to the procedure determined by the law on collective agreements.

The predominantly used form of dispute resolution mechanisms since 2010 is mediation, before it was arbitration. All mechanisms for collective disputes resolution are introduced voluntarily. In a recent qualitative study ( Stanojević and Kanjuo Mrčela , 2014), a representative of employers in craft and entrepreneurship reported on the introduction of mediation as an instrument of conflict resolution in their collective agreement.

Individual dispute resolution mechanisms

The Act on work and social courts (Zakon o delovnih in socialnih sodiščih) stipulates in Article 5 that the labour court is competent to rule on individual (as well as collective) industrial dispute issues. The aspects covered include employment contracts; rights, obligations and responsibilities ensuing from the employment relationship between the worker and employer or their legal successors; rights and obligations ensuing from the relations between the worker and the user undertaking; the employment procedure; industrial property rights and obligations ensuing from the employment relationship; work of children younger than 15; work of apprentices, pupils and students; scholarships; voluntary apprenticeship; and other issues determined by law.

Use of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms

There are no data related to the alternative dispute resolution mechanisms (arbitration and mediation).

Individual employment relations

Individual employment relations

Individual employment relations are the relationship between the individual worker and their employer. This relationship is shaped by legal regulation and by the outcomes of social partner negotiations over the terms and conditions governing the employment relationship. This section looks into the start and termination of the employment relationship and entitlements and obligations in Slovenia.

Start and termination of the employment relationship

Requirements regarding an employment contract

According to Article 21 of the Employment Relationships Act, an employment contract may be concluded with people who have reached the age of 15. Article 22 of this Act stipulates that a worker who concludes an employment contract must meet the requirements for the performance of work prescribed and laid down in a collective agreement or the employer’s general acts or as required by the employer and published in accordance with a public notice of a vacancy, which must contain the job requirements.

Workers under the age of 18 are not allowed to carry out work that may be harmful or dangerous. An employment contract has to be issued before work begins.

Dismissal and termination procedures

The 2013 Employment Relationships Act covers dismissal and termination procedures, including an employer’s obligations in terminating an employment contract. In the event of the cancellation of the employment contract due to incompetence, the employer must give notice of dismissal no later than six months following the occurrence of the justified reason. In the event of misconduct, the employer must give notice of cancellation no later than 60 days after identifying the justified reason and no later than six months from the occurrence of the justified reason. If the reason of misconduct on the part of the worker has all the characteristics of a criminal offence, the employer may give notice of cancellation of the employment contract within 60 days of the date the employer identifies the justified reason of misconduct for ordinary cancellation; this applies to the entire period in which the offender may be subject to criminal prosecution.

In the event of cancellation for a reason of misconduct on the part of the worker that has all the characteristics of a criminal offence, the employer may prohibit the worker from carrying out work for the duration of the proceedings. During the period of being prohibited from carrying out work, the worker shall be entitled to wage compensation amounting to half of his or her average salary received in the last three months before the institution of the cancellation proceedings.

Entitlements and obligations

Parental, maternity and paternity leave

A mother has the right to maternity leave. Under certain conditions, this right may also be exercised by the father or another person. The mother normally starts maternity leave 28 days before the anticipated date of birth, as specified by a gynaecologist. If the mother does not start maternity leave at that time, the unused part of the maternity leave may not be used after the child’s birth, unless the birth was premature. If, on the day of giving birth, the mother has not begun maternity leave, it shall begin on that day. Maternity leave lasts 105 days and must be used in a single block in the form of complete absence from work.

The father has the right to maternity leave if the mother dies, abandons the child, is deemed by a competent physician to be permanently or temporarily incapable of independent life and work, or is younger than 18 years and has the status of apprentice, pupil or student. In the last example, the mother must give her consent for the father to use the remaining maternity leave. The father has the right to the same amount of maternity leave as the mother, minus the number of days that the mother has already used, and by at least 28 days.

A father has the right to paternity leave up to 90 days. The first 15 days must be used by the time the child has reached the end of its sixth month; the remainder may be used in the form of full leave until the child has reached three years of age. The level of paternity allowance for the 15 days which a father takes when the child is born amounts to 100 % of the father’s average pay. The father receives no allowance for the remaining 75 days, although his social security contributions, amounting to the minimum wage, are paid for the duration of paternity leave. One of the parents has a right to leave in order to look after or care for a child for a period of 260 days immediately upon expiry of maternity leave. The level of childcare allowance is determined on the basis of the average pay which the beneficiary received in the preceding 12 months. However, the allowance may not exceed two-and-a-half times the gross average pay.

Every parent has the right to 130 days of parental leave. The mother can transfer 100 days of parental leave to the father, while 30 days are non-transferable. The father may transfer all of his 130 days of parental leave to the mother.

Statutory leave arrangements

Maternity leave

Maximum duration

105 working days, of which 28 days must be taken before the birth of a child. The father has the right to maternity leave in special circumstances.

90 days for the birth of twins and a further 90 days for each additional live child born.

In the case of premature birth, leave is extended by the number of days that the pregnancy was shorter than 260 days.

The level of childcare allowance is determined on the basis of the average pay which the beneficiary received in the preceding 12 months. The allowance may not exceed two-and-a-half times the gross average pay

Sick leave

According to the Employment Relationships Act, the employer must pay wage compensation from their own resources in cases of the worker’s inability to work due to illness or injury not related to work for a period up to 30 working days for individual absence from work, but no more than 120 working days in a calendar year. In cases of the worker’s inability to work due to an occupational illness or injury at work, the employer must pay the worker wage compensation from their own resources for a period of up to 30 working days for each individual absence from work. In the event of a longer absence from work, the employer must pay wage compensation, which will be covered by health insurance. Unless otherwise stipulated by law, the worker shall be entitled to wage compensation in the amount of his or her average monthly wage for full-time work during the past three months or during the period he or she worked in the three months prior to the start of absence. If during the period of employment in the past three months the worker did not work and received wage compensation for the entire period, the basis for this compensation shall be equal to the basis for wage compensation in the past three months prior to the start of absence. If during the whole period of the past three months the worker did not receive at least one monthly salary, he or she shall be entitled to wage compensation in the amount of the basic salary laid down in the employment contract. The amount of wage compensation may not exceed the amount of pay that the worker would have received if he or she had worked during that period.

In the event of the worker’s absence from work due to illness or injury that is not related to work, the wage compensation to be covered by the employer shall amount to 80% of the worker’s salary in the preceding month for full-time work.

The Health Insurance Institute pays an allowance from the first day of a worker’s absence from work if he or she:

donates live tissue or organs for the benefit of another person;

suffers from the effects of donating blood;

has to care for a close family member;

has a medical condition requiring isolation;

is ordered by a doctor to accompany a patient;

has injuries that were sustained in certain circumstances.

The base for calculating the allowance is the average monthly pay for full-time work in the preceding year.

The employment relationship of a worker whose employment contract has been cancelled for a business reason or for a reason of incompetence and who is, upon the expiry of the period of notice, absent from work due to temporary incapacity for work because of illness or injury shall be terminated on the day the worker returns to work or should return to work, but no later than six months after the expiry of the period of notice.

Retirement age

The retirement age for both men and women is set at 65 years, or at 60 years of age on the basis of 40 years of service. The equalisation of the retirement age for men and women was introduced with a pension reform that has been in force since 1 January 2013. The equalisation of the retirement age is to be reached gradually in six years.

Pay

Pay

Pay: For workers, the reward for work and main source of income; for employers, a cost of production and focus of bargaining and legislation. This section looks into minimum wage setting in Slovenia and guides the reader to further material on collective wage bargaining.

Average monthly gross wages and salaries per worker, annual average

2011

2016 (or 2017)

NACE

Men

Women

Men

Women

A- B

C

€1617

€1542

€1732

€1630

Source: SORS

Minimum wages

The minimum wage is calculated in accordance with the Minimum Wage Act adopted on 11 February 2010 on the basis of published data on inflation. The Act stipulates that the minimum wage be adjusted annually in line with the rise in consumer prices. The official data from the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia (SORS) on the annual rise in consumer prices for the previous December-to-December period is used to calculate minimum wage adjustments.

In November 2015, the parliament approved amendments to the law on the minimum wage, changing the definition of minimum wage. From January 2016, the allowances for unfavourable working hours are exempt from the minimum wage and are henceforth paid separately.

The minimum wage is not adjusted for different groups of workers.

Statutory minimum wage, 2013–2017

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

Adult rate

€783.66

€789.15

€790.73

€790.73

€804.96

Youth rate

na

na

na

na

na

Source: Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities.

For more information regarding the level and development of minimum wages, please see:

Collectively agreed pay outcomes

Working time

Working time

Working time: ‘Any period during which the worker is working, at the employer’s disposal and carrying out his activities or duties, in accordance with national laws and/or practice’ (Directive 2003/88/EC). This section briefly summarises regulation and issues regarding working time, overtime, part-time work as well as working time flexibility in Slovenia.

Working time regulation

The statutory weekly working time is 40 hours. It can be less than 40 hours but not less than 36 hours, unless the job entails great risk of injury or ill-health. Full working time may not be spread over fewer than four days a week. Full working time is regulated by the Employment Relationships Act (ERA).

Overview of average weekly working time, 1 January 2015

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

Source

Statutory weekly working time

40

40

40

40

40

ERA

Collectively agreed weekly working time

Actual weekly working hours

40

40

40

Eurofound

Statutory maximum daily working time

10

10

10

10

10

ERA

Source: ERA and Eurofound (2015)

Overtime regulation

The Employment Relationships Act defines overtime work as work exceeding full working time. The worker is obliged to perform it at the employer’s request in some exceptional circumstances. Overtime work may not exceed 8 hours a week, 20 hours a month or 170 hours a year. A working day may not exceed 10 hours. With the worker’s consent, overtime work may exceed the annual time limitation (170 hours) but may not exceed 230 hours a year. In each case of required overtime work exceeding 170 hours a year, the employer must obtain written consent from the worker. Should the worker refuse to provide the written consent, he or she must not be exposed to unfavourable consequences in respect of the employment relationship.

Part-time work

The Employment Relationships Act defines part-time work as working time that is shorter than the full working time in force with the employer. A worker who has concluded a part-time employment contract has the same contractual and other rights and obligations arising from the employment relationship as a worker who works full time, and exercises these rights and obligations proportionally to the time for which the employment relationship was concluded, with the exception of such rights and obligations as are otherwise stipulated by lay. According to Eurostat LFS, part-time work constituted 8.5% of total employment in 2012 and 9.6% in 2017.

While part-time work is lower in Slovenia than in the EU28 for both sexes, the difference is much more pronounced for women than for men. While almost a third of women in EU28 worked part time, only 13.7% of women in Slovenia did so in 2017. That percentage has been relatively stable in the last five years. Full-time employment of both men and especially women is enabled by well-developed policies regarding balancing work and family life and motivated by financial reasons.

Persons employed part-time in Slovenia and EU28 (% of total employment)

Involuntary part-time

Involuntary part-time workers can be defined as those working part time because they could not find a full-time job.

Persons employed in involuntary part-time in Slovenia and EU28 (% of total part-time employment)

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

Total (EU 28)

28.4

30.0

30.4

29.9

28.5

27.1

Total (Slovenia)

9.1

11.4

10.5

13.8

14.9

11.3

Women (EU 28)

24.9

26.4

26.8

26.2

25.0

23.7

Women (Slovenia)

9.6

12.3

10.6

15.2

16.7

12.4

Men (EU 28)

41.0

42.4

42.7

42.5

40.1

38.7

Men (Slovenia)

8.3

10.0

10.3

11.5

11.3

9.3

Source: Eurostat Labour Force Survey [lfsa_eppgai]- involuntary part-time employment as a percentage of the total part-time employment, by sex and age (20 to 64 years of age)

The table shows that involuntary part-time employment is considerably higher in the EU28 than in Slovenia. Interestingly, while the percentage of involuntary part-time employment decreased between 2014 and 2016 in the EU28, it increased in Slovenia in the same period. This increase particularly affected women, where it was 6.2 percentage points while for men in was only 1.2 percentage points.

Night work

The Employment Relationships Act defines night work as work between 23.00 and 6.00. If a distribution of working time involves a night shift, night work is defined as eight uninterrupted hours between 22.00 and 7.00.

Shift work

The Employment Relationships Act does not mention shift work as work under special working conditions and consequently does not prescribe additional payment for it. Shift work may be defined in branch collective agreements. The collective agreement for the retail sector (2014) defines shift work as work which is alternatively performed in the morning, afternoon or night shift and lasts for 6 to 8 hours a day, depending on the 5 or 6 day working week. In shift work, the worker works one week or day in the morning shift and the next week or day in the afternoon or night shift. The afternoon shift means that a worker works 75% and more of his/her regular working time after 12:00. The night shift means that a worker works 75% or more of his/her regular working time between 22:00 and 7:00 of the following day.

Weekend work

With regard to weekend work, the Employment Relationships Act stipulates that additional payments be laid down for special working conditions related to the distribution of working time including Sunday work. The amount of additional payment for such work may be defined in the collective agreement as a nominal amount or as a percentage of the basic salary for full working time or for an appropriate hourly rate.

Rest and breaks

In accordance with the Employment Relationships Act, a worker who works full time has the right to a 30-minute break during the working day. A worker who works part time, but at least for four hours a day, has the right to a break during the working day in proportion to the time spent at work. In the case of irregular distribution or temporary redistribution of working time, the time of a break is defined in proportion to the length of the daily working time. The time of a break may be set no earlier than after one hour of work and no later than one hour prior to the end of the working time. A break during the working day is included in the working time.

A worker has the right to a rest period of at least 12 uninterrupted hours within a period of 24 hours. A worker whose working time is irregularly distributed or temporarily redistributed has the right to a daily rest period of at least 11 hours within a period of 24 hours. In addition to the right to a daily rest period, a worker has the right to a rest period of at least 24 uninterrupted hours within a period of seven successive days.

Rests and breaks may be set differently for certain categories of workers in the employment contract if the working time cannot be distributed in advance or if the worker can distribute his/her working time independently and if they are ensured health and safety at work.

Working time flexibility

Working time flexibility is not regulated by law. It is regulated by collective agreements or general acts at the company level.

In more than one-third of establishments in Slovenia, a majority of employees have the possibility to adapt the start and end of their working day according to their personal needs. This option is two times greater in small establishments (compared to medium-sized and large establishments). This option exists for a certain number of employees in 43% of large establishments. In almost half (46%) of medium-sized establishments, none or fewer than 20% have this option.

Do you have fixed start and finishing time in your work?

In the figure, we see a comparison between Slovenia and European Union for the workers with 'Age : All' when asked 'Do you have fixed starting and finishing times in your work?'. For the 'No' answer, Slovenia's score is higher than the European Union score. For the 'Yes' answer, Slovenia's score is lower than the European Union score. Data is based on question 39d from the sixth European Working Conditions Survey (2015).The National comparisons visualisation presents a comparative overview for the values of all answers between two selected countries.

Health and well-being

Health and well-being

Maintaining health and well-being should be a high priority for workers and employers alike. Health is an asset closely associated with a person’s quality of life and longevity, as well as their ability to work. A healthy economy depends on a healthy workforce: organisations can experience loss of productivity through the ill-health of their workers. This section looks into psychosocial risks and health and safety in Slovenia.

Health and safety at work

Health and safety at work is regulated by the Health and safety at work act (Zakon o varnosti in zdravju pri delu, the Official Gazette of RS, no. 43/2011). The Health and safety at work section at the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities covers the drafting of acts and other regulations concerning this field. The Section also prepares expert opinions, analyses, reports, information and other materials concerning health and safety at work. Their work includes issuing work permits for carrying out professional tasks in the field and issuing authorisations for carrying out training for health and safety coordinators at construction sites. It monitors and assesses the situation in the field of health and safety at work and subsequently prepares solutions for uniform health and safety arrangements. It also promotes the field by organising debates and publishing various promotional materials.

Accidents at work, with four days’ absence or more – working days lost

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

All accidents

17,314

14,361

13,637

12,449

11,505

10,136

10,016

Percentage change on previous year

-

-17.1

-5.0

-8.7

-7.6

-11.9

-1.2

Per 1,000 employees

20.2

17.5

17.1

16.0

14.9

13.5

13.4

Source: Eurostat, [hsw_mi01] and [lfsa_eegaed]

Total work accidents, 2008–2016

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

All accidents

17,048

12,219

12,012

12,154

10,091

9,229

9,333

9,367

n.a.

Fatal accidents

27

25

22

20

21

22

23

24

n.a.

Source: Labour Inspectorate – Annual Reports

Psychosocial risks

The Health and Safety at Work Act regulates the entire area of health and safety at work. Psychosocial risks at work are addressed in Articles 24 and 29 of this Act. The employer must adopt measures to prevent, eliminate and manage cases of violence, mobbing, harassment and other forms of psychosocial risks at the workplace that can pose a threat to workers’ health. It is the safety officer’s task to coordinate measures to prevent psychosocial risks.

Work intensity: Do you have enough time to get the job done?

In the figure, we see a comparison between Slovenia and European Union for the workers with 'Age : All' when asked 'Do you have enough time to get the job done?'. For the 'Always or most of the time' answer, Slovenia's score is higher than the European Union score. For the 'Rarely or never' answer, Slovenia's score is lower than the European Union score. For the 'Sometimes' answer, Slovenia's score is lower than the European Union score. Data is based on question 61g from the sixth European Working Conditions Survey (2015).The National comparisons visualisation presents a comparative overview for the values of all answers between two selected countries.

Source: Eurofound’s European Working Conditions Survey 2015

Skills, learning and employability

Skills, learning and employability

Skills are the passport to employment; the better skilled an individual, the more employable they are. Good skills also tend to secure better-quality jobs and better earnings. This section briefly summarises the Slovenian system for ensuring skills and employability and looks into the extent of training.

National system for ensuring skills and employability

The National Vocational Information and Counselling Centre at the Employment Service of Slovenia offers the following services: description of vocations, information on (upper) secondary and higher education institutions, information on possibilities for vocational training and study abroad, information on available financial aid for education and training, postings of educational programmes, information on student residences, postings of jobs, directions and tools for more effective job searching, video clips of vocations and computer programmes for independent planning of educational or vocational path.

Social partners have an important role in the development, confirmation and acknowledgement of occupational competences and qualifications at all educational levels. Article 7 of the National Professional Qualifications Act (Zakon o nacionalnih poklicnih kvalifikacijah, Uradni list RS, št. 1/2007, 85/2009) stipulates that in the field of the acquisition of professional qualifications, chambers, employers’ organisations, professional associations, non- governmental organisations, trade unions and competent ministries primarily perform the following tasks as partners:

introducing initiatives for the adoption of study programmes at higher education institutes that allow for the acquisition of professional qualifications in accordance with the fourth indent of Article 3 of this Act;

introducing initiatives for new professional standards and catalogues;

proposing members of sector committees for professional standards;

performing other tasks determined by Acts and other regulations.

Training

The Secondary, Higher Vocational and Adult Education Directorate at the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport performs administrative and expert tasks in secondary education, higher vocational education and adult education. The directorate draws up draft regulations; implements regulations; informs the public about professional and legislative issues; carries out tasks relating to financing, international networking and cooperation and plans; develops strategic bases to regulate education policies; and prepares a national programme for adult education. Higher vocational education complements or completes the range of services in tertiary education.

Training: Have you had any on the job training in the past year?

In the figure, we see a comparison between Slovenia and European Union for the workers with 'Age : All' when asked 'Have you had on-the-job training in the last 12 months?'. For the 'No' answer, Slovenia's score is lower than the European Union score. For the 'Yes' answer, Slovenia's score is higher than the European Union score. Data is based on question 65c from the sixth European Working Conditions Survey (2015).The National comparisons visualisation presents a comparative overview for the values of all answers between two selected countries.

Source: Eurofound’s European Working Conditions Survey 2015

Work organisation

Work organisation

Work organisation underpins economic and business development and has important consequences for productivity, innovation and working conditions. Eurofound research finds that some types of work organisation are associated with a better quality of work and employment. Therefore, developing or introducing different forms of work organisation are of particular interest because of the expected effect on productivity, efficiency and competitiveness of companies, as well as on workers’ working conditions. Ongoing research by Eurofound, based on EurWORK, the European Working Conditions Survey and the European Company Survey, monitors developments in work organisation.

Work organisation

For Slovenia, the European Company Survey 2013 shows that between 2010 and 2013, 49.7% of establishments with 10 or more employees reported changes in the use of technology, 34.6% introduced changes in ways to coordinate and allocate the work to workers and another 17.5% saw changes in their working time arrangements.

Results from the 2014 Cranet Survey (an international survey on HR practices coordinated by Cranfield University in the UK) in Slovenia (based on a sample of 218 organisations with more than 100 employees) give information on the frequency of different working arrangements (including job sharing, home-based work and teleworking). The data show that 21.7% of organisations use job sharing, 12.6% use home-based work and 27.9% use teleworking.

Work organisation: Are you able to choose or change your methods of work?

In the figure, we see a comparison between Slovenia and European Union for the workers with 'Age : All' when asked 'Are you able to choose or change your methods of work?'. For the 'No' answer, Slovenia's score is higher than the European Union score. For the 'Yes' answer, Slovenia's score is lower than the European Union score. Data is based on question 54b from the sixth European Working Conditions Survey (2015).The National comparisons visualisation presents a comparative overview for the values of all answers between two selected countries.

Source: Eurofound’s European Working Conditions Survey 2015

There are no other recent major surveys/studies on work organization in Slovenia.

Equality and non-discrimination at work

Equality and non-discrimination at work

The legal basis for ensuring equality and non-discrimination at work is the Employment Relationships Act, which prohibits, in Article 6, all forms of direct or indirect discrimination and retaliatory measures.

The Advocate of the Principle of Equality provides assistance to discriminated people in legal and other proceedings by giving advice on legal remedies and how to use them at other national authorities. A proceeding before the advocate is free and confidential.

Inspection services supervise the implementation of legislation in certain social areas, with particular emphasis on protection against discrimination:

for cases of violations concerning employment and labour relations – Labour Inspectorate of the Republic of Slovenia;

for cases concerning education and training – Inspectorate of the Republic of Slovenia for Education and Sport;

for cases concerning access to and the provision of goods and services – Market Inspectorate of the Republic of Slovenia.

Inspectors must deal with complaints, messages and other documents within their area of responsibility.

Equal pay and gender pay gap

The Employment Relationships Act stipulates in Article 133 that the employer must provide equal pay for equal work and for work of equal value to workers regardless of their sex. Provisions of an employment contract, a collective agreement or an employer’s general act that are contrary to this stipulation shall be regarded as invalid.

The unadjusted gender pay gap stood at 2.5% in 2012. It is one of the lowest in Europe, which puts Slovenia in 27th place in the EU28 ranking. However, the indicator has been continuously rising since 2010, when it stood at 0.9%, and in 2011 it was 2.3%. However, this value does not fully acknowledge labour market segregation. The indicator for gender segregation in occupations points to 25.2% in 2013 (0.6 pp below the 2012 value), which is still higher than the EU28 average of 24.4%. Gender segregation in economic sectors was at 19.2% in 2013, which had decreased since 2012, when it was 19.9%. It is now higher than the EU28 average of 18.9%.

The Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia (SORS) shows that average monthly gross earnings of women in 2014 were 94.7% of that of men (SORS, 2014). SORS points out that these are average values and that the reason for these differences is due to different educational, occupational and age structures. However, the recently published analysis of matched employer–employee data examining gender differences in pay over a 15- year period (1993–2007) in Slovenia found that there was a substantial increase in gender inequality over this period, and that in the period 2003–2007, men on average earned roughly 23% more than women and 18% more than women doing the same work for the same employer. The analysis shows that women doing the same work for the same employer earn significantly less, even in the public sector (Penner et al, 2012).

Quota regulations

There are no legal obligations for specific gender quotas in the economy. While gender quotas for electoral lists within political parties (at least 40% of each sex) were introduced in 2005, discussion on quotas in the economy started at the beginning of 2010. Debate about gender equality in positions of power in the economic sphere was marginalised for decades, but following the initiatives of the European Commission, it has recently gained more public attention.

However, there are quotas for companies to employ workers with disabilities. In 2014, the government issued a Regulation on quotas for the employment of people with disabilities, which stipulates that any employer that employs more than 20 employees is obliged to meet the quota requirements, which range from 2% to 6%, depending on activity. If the employer does not meet the requirements, they must pay a contribution aimed at enhancing the employment of people with disabilities.